Sunday, October 29, 2017

The Revolt Against Sexual Harassment

There once was a show on Amazon
called “Good Girls Revolt.” It’s a scripted series set in 1969 and 1970 that tells
the story of several female researchers at “News of the Week” magazine who endured
sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. It’s won plaudits,
stellar reviews and a devoted following. It was not renewed for a second
season.

There once was a head of Amazon
Studios named Roy Price. He resigned earlier this month after being accused of
the sexual harassment of one of the executive producers of an Amazon show and crude talk at
work-associated events, according to the Hollywood Reporter. He was the one who made the decision
not to continue with “Good Girls Revolt.” (You see where I’m going with this,
don’t you?) When the show’s creator went to Price late last year to pitch a
second season, he didn’t even know the characters’ names. She told The New York Times she believes that’s
because he never even watched it. Feel free to conclude for yourself why the
head of a studio wouldn’t bother to watch one of his own shows.

This is particularly infuriating
because there once was a lawsuit filed by 46 women at Newsweek magazine. The 1970 lawsuit alleged that one of America’s
top newsrooms discriminated against women in hiring and promotion. Women –
“girls” back then – were relegated to roles as researchers or sometimes
promoted to reporters. They were rarely made writers and were never able to
climb the career ladder to jobs as editors, the highest positions at the
news magazine. These 46 were the first women in the media to sue and became the first
class action lawsuit.

One of those women was Lynn
Povich. It is her amazing book, THE GOOD GIRLS REVOLT, upon which the Amazon series is based.

Fans of the TV show protested late last year when it wasn’t renewed. But now that Price’s alleged harassment
is out in the open, the show’s stars are leading a much bigger, um, revolt.

“It was just so meta, or twisted,
when we found out Roy Price had been accused of sexual harassment,” Anna Camp,
who plays researcher Jane Hollander, told The New York Times. “So many
frustrated fans were reaching out and saying, ‘Now that he’s gone, maybe the
show could come back.’ ”

The stars as well as numerous female journalists are also saying loud
and clear that with all that’s going on right now – women finding the courage to come forward with stories of sexual harassment and assault by men who held professional power over them – a
series like “Good Girls Revolt” has never been more timely.

So here in my little corner of
the world, I’m going to do everything I can to try to bring back a show that takes
place almost 50 years ago, but says a whole lot about the world today. It
shouldn’t be one man, who resigned his job in the face of a sexual harassment
allegation, who gets to decide whether a show about the pervasiveness of sexual
harassment continues to air.

If you’re interested, you can
sign the petition at Change.org.
Or tweet to @AmazonStudios with the hashtag, #SaveGoodGirlsRevolt.

Full disclosure: In my other life
as a journalist, I belong to an organization called Journalism and Women’s
Symposium, which works toward equality and support of women in the field. Lynn
Povich is also a member.